Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-01-15


,ur New Years resolutions have already |
'ome to grief by compound fracture IL would |
,e as good time ss any, for those who have
lot done 1t before, to form another, new reso.
utiou, soberly, seriously, and to carry IL out |
iruIly and perseveringly, / mean the reso-
ution to start and keep ups live library |
not public library, though there is large
room Tor one in our city, but private one,
tor personal aud family use lam quite sure
tina, nothing more sensible could be done by |
anyone than just this; nothing capable Of
giving more solid pleasure; nothing that
would be more tar-resching in its benehcis!
results
A Goop LIBRARy--not necessarily a large
one--in a house is the foundation upon
which the future intelligence, culture and
refinement of the family largely depends |
[ pom IL are built, rather in IL are rooted, the |
chief factors OF the education, the mental and
moral growth and expansion and elevation
OF character, which shall give the children
and children's children OF your home those
tastes, incllnations, habits aud abilities that
shall secure for them recognition and stand
ing in the society OF their fellow-citizeus in q
few years to come. So also, the intelligence |
character and standing of the whole commu-
nifty are actually determined by the number |
AhaAlAs Va INC iElNhNc llbihIA W bc |
found in the homes of Its citizens In this |
respect they do what mere money can never |
do The latter can DO no more than charsc- |
terizs place, in the eyes Of the world, as "a |
rich town." or a"g gay place" or y "magnih. |
cent city" The former will stamp upon II |
the marks OF "a highly cultivated place" "a
community Of superior intelligence" or ga
very refined people" And the latter charac-
ter every one will admit Ia preferable 20 the
former. 1t is an advance upon the former In
the scale of human progress and civilization.
For, after all, is not the great and only legit-
mate end Of wealth the procuring of the
means Of refinement aud CultureH
THAT'S why l consider an inheritance OF a
collection of good books worth more to the
heir than an inheritance of mere peCunisry
wealth. 1t gives him direct the means Of
education and culture, without running the
risk of his so misspplying the money or
| other property that il would degrade instead
OF elevsttng MIN. And very likely, too, 1t
| gives him with the books also the inclination,
| at least the incipient taste, for rightly using
| them. So true are the weli-kuown lines Of
| Wordsworth, that books
"Are substantial world, both pure and good:
| Round these, with tendrlls strong a desh and
| blood,
Our rastiTe and our happiness Will grow"
On this subject Mr.. Beecher has written
| sOLIs IhhA hAaNACA tStiNaAAs "AHS aLN SbJbs
words-indeed what subject Is there on
which he has not? He says, and l shall
quote at some length: "If on visiting the
dwelling of a man OF slender means we find
| that he contents himself with cheap carpets
and very plain furniture in order that he may
purchase books, he rises at once in our es.
TEEN. Books are not made for furniture, but
there Is nothing else that so beautifully fur
nishes house The plstnest row OF books
that cloth or paper ever covered Is more sig
niicsnt OF Refinement than the most elsbor
ately carved etagere or sideoOard Give US a
| house furnished with books rather than fur
niture. Both, If you can, but books at any
rate To spend several days In q friends
house, and hanger for something to real,
while you are treading on costly carpets n i
sitting on luxurious chairs, and sleeping
upon down, is as If one were briotng your
body tor the sake of cheating your mind. Is
it not pitisble to see a man growing rich,
sugmenting the comforts OF home, and
lsvishing money on ostentstiOus upholstery,
upon the table, upon everything but what
the soul needs ? We know Of many and
many rich mans house where II would not
be safe to ask Tor the c0nmonest English
clAssics..A few pictorial mons rosities,
together with the stock OF religious books of
his "persuasiOn," and that Is ali No poets,
no essayists, no historians, no travels or bi.
ographies, no select fiction, no curious legen-
Diary lore. But the wall paper cost three dol
lars roll, and the carpet cost four dollars a
yard ~
OS the same subject he continues: "a
home without books is like a room without
windows. No man has right to bring up
r his children without surrounding them with
books, If he has the means TO buy them.
! tits "a wrong to his family, he cheats them
| Children learn 10 read by being in the pres
4 ence Of books. The love OF knowledge comes
! | with reading and grows upon it And the
: love Of knowledge in young mind Is al
most a warrant against the interior excite
! ment OF passion and vices. Let us pity these
poor rich men who live barrenly in grea
bookless houses, Let Us congratulate the
poor that, in our day, books are so cheap thai
: man may every year add hundred vol
umes TO his library for the price which his
tobacco and mis- bser would cost him. Among
, the earliest ambitions to be excited in clerks
! workmen, journeymen, etc indeed, among
, all that are struggling up in life from nothing
! | to something, IL that ~ owning and constantly
adding To a library OF good books. \ little
| library growing larger every year IL an hon
: oraole part OF young mans history. Ii Il
! mans duty 10 have books library !:
D not luxury, bat one Of the necessaries o
| life"
EVERY word OF that Is true a. gospel. And
| 1t might be corrobOrated by the to -timony o
nearly all the greatest men in all the various
Q walks OF life from old Richard de Bury
/ who in the fourteenth century wrote his con
| ylcuOn that ''tne library, therefore, Of wisdom
? Is more precious than all riches and nothing
, | that can be wished for Is worthy to be com
4 | pared with il, down to our own practica
: DR.. Holmes, who so nalvely tells us how b,
g was drought up" in his fathers library
and claims that child ought even in tender
est infancy be allowed TO " tumble abou
Q | among books"
"IF we come down for a moment, sale
? George Dawson at Birmingham some few
| years ago, " and look at the bare and imme
5 diate utilities OF a library We fiud that here
9 man gets himself ready tor his calling, srml
: himself tor his profession, finds out the fact
9 that are 10 determine his trade prepares him
y self tor his examination. The utilities of 4
, are endless and priceless II is, too, plac,
8 | of pastime Tor man has no amusement NOR,
4 innocent, more sweet moro gracious, NOR,
, elevating, and more tOrtitying than he car
. | find in a library A library Il
\ the strengthenor OF all that is great in life
. and the repeller OF what is petty and mean
o and half the gossip OF society would perisi
q II the books that are truly worth readin!
: we're read" What he said of the homes o
I the majority in England Is only too true alst
5 OF those in our own country, " They car
. give you gorgeous bed, with four posts
. marvellous adOrDments, luxurious hangings
q | and lacquered shams all round they car
y give you dinners ad HdusedHl and wine tina
, | Rn